Lest you think I’m being imperious, let me say that the following tenets are the discipline for my life. Thou is welcome to adopt them if thee so chooses, but the Quakers, the subject of my research this semester, has had a profound effect on yours truly, and I thought that it was time to codify the tenets that govern my life. Here goes.

If you pass a lemonade stand, and you have the asking price or more, you will stop and buy a cup. Why? Because lemonade is delicious, young entrepreneurship is to be admired, and you’ll feel like a hero for the rest of the day.

If “Two Weeks Notice” is on TV, you will watch it. The same goes for either of “The Princess Diaries” movies, “Miss Congeniality”, “You’ve Got Mail”, “What A Girl Wants”, and “Sleepless in Seattle”. Side note: If someone asks you what society needs, you will answer, “Harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan. And world peace.”

The ingredients for chocolate chip cookies must always be on hand. If you run out of brown sugar, or butter, or chocolate chips, they must be replaced immediately.

Always write back, even if it’s been awhile and you feel awkward doing so.

Read Little Women and Peter Pan once a year.

Never resist a “That’s What She Said” moment. Steve Carell may own it, it may be juvenile, and it may confuse your mother, but if it makes you smile, it might make someone else laugh too.

Smile even when you don’t feel like it.

Have a dance party at least once a week.

Call the Butterball hotline once a year and wish the expert a Happy Thanksgiving.

Live life like a Gershwin heroine, with class, kindness, spunk, a little sarcasm, an openness to life’s possibilities, and the occasional tap number.